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WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2006 – Survey forms will go out in the mail this week to 10,000 servicemembers and Department of Defense civilian employees overseas to determine what they're looking for in radio programming provided by American Forces Network. The survey will help American Forces Radio and Television Service, AFN's parent organization, provide better radio programming of music, news and talk that lives up to its audience's desires, Warren Lee, AFRTS plans and operations officer, said in an interview. The goal, he said, is "to serve our overseas audience with the information and entertainment that they want and need to...

The escalating battle for the votes of U.S. armed forces personnel is stoking congressional Democrats’ efforts to end what they see as a right-wing tilt on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Services (AFRTS). They are focusing on the broadcast of Rush Limbaugh’s popular daily talk show and say that its inclusion without a left-leaning counterweight violates Department of Defense (DoD) guidelines to provide balanced political programming to active-duty military personnel in 177 countries. Believing that the alleged rightward bias will push military voters overseas to cast absentee ballots for Republicans, the Democrats in Congress are urging the chairmen and...

Hillary Rodham Clinton is finally getting some backup on her vast-right-wing-media charge. But instead of her scattershot blast at the press, the new offensive targets two media giants: Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdoch 's Fox News Channel. In Rush's case, he's under fire for something he didn't do. See, he's the only political commentator on Armed Forces Radio, and Democrats want the organization partly funded with tax dollars to hire a lefty pundit--or drop him. Murdoch, meanwhile, has committed two sins in liberals' eyes: He owns too much media and has created a "Fox effect" that supposedly forces other networks...

"Do the right thing." These were Secretary of State Colin Powell's words of advice to the Wake Forest University class of 2004 in his May commencement address. Then Powell issued an incontrovertible condemnation of the actions of U.S. soldiers' abuse of Iraqi prisoners: "Our nation is now going through a period of deep disappointment, a period of deep pain over some of our soldiers not doing the right thing at a place called Abu Ghraib. All Americans deplored what happened there."

(CNSNews.com) - Democracy Radio, one of the liberal groups that wants to boot Rush Limbaugh off Armed Forces Radio, sees radio as the route to voters' hearts. "With the full support of right wing organizations, conservative talk show hosts now are clearly playing a critical role in shaping the attitudes of many Americans which, in turn, are having an effect on the outcome of elections," Democracy Radio says on its website. "As long as elections continue to be as close as the presidential election of 2000, talk radio will continue to play a meaningful role." Democracy Radio -- along with...

(CNSNews.com) - Liberal groups that want to bounce Rush Limbaugh's radio show off Armed Forces Radio have found a Senate ally. Sen. Tom Harkins (D-Iowa) announced on Wednesday that he has successfully amended the Fiscal Year 2005 Defense Authorization bill, adding a provision that calls on American Forces Radio and Television Service to provide political balance in its public affairs programming. Harkin was quoted as saying that American Forces Radio and Television Service is funded by taxpayers of all political persuasions, and therefore it should "make a greater effort to provide balanced representation of political viewpoints on its airwaves to...